In The Rain
by NetherVoidWanderer
Summary: OC. Oniichi Edosuke, meditation and mental specialist she was given to Sunagakure's new Kazekage as a 'gift' from the Mizukage. But why would the Mizukage simply hand over one of his shinobi for an undefined amount of time?
1. In The Moonlight

(Authors Note) First and most obvious in no way shape or form to I own Naruto. For if I did… well #1. Haku would still be alive and there would be A LOT more Gaara time. But I don't so there isn't. #2 I would like to thank Rosemary Ellen Guiley for authoring 'The Mystic Tarot' which I cite many many times in this story, various recording artist's for making music which I enjoy listening to while writing, my Grandma for explaining about magnetic therapy which also come to play in the story and finally Masashi Kishimoto for creating the story which this fan fiction is based off of. That's all. Carry on.

In The Moonlight...

_Near the gateway to Mojave  
I saw a place  
Both beautiful and blistering  
And cruel and cold the same  
The sun was like a lion  
Bearing down upon it's pray  
Death valley stained in crimson  
For the moon to wash away  
And I envisioned rows of gallows  
For the world to look upon  
One step to bringing order  
To a planet tempting chaos _

Can you feel it coming down  
The righteous wrath of God  
Revealed from out of heaven  
For the innocent blood  
Crying from the ground

While the wicked seem to prosper  
And glory in these days  
As if their ways were hidden  
As if they had escaped  
We have lost our sense of justice  
Smearing lines of right and wrong  
Despising any standards  
We blindly stumble on  
Bleeding hearts may scream compassion  
What of those that cannot cry  
A life is worth a life  
Justice...merciful and blind

Innocent blood  
Is crying from the ground  
It's coming down  
_-Stavesacre_

_Nobody wants him  
They just turn their heads  
Nobody helps him  
Now he has his revenge  
__-Black Sabbath_

I've seen him before. Never met him… but I have seen him. Perhaps what's weirder is the fact that his cousin and his cousin's fiancé are close friends of mine. Maybe what's weirder is the fact that Maru looks like a blue-ish black haired version of him. Gaara of the Desert's identical cousin from his father's side of the family is one of the very few people who willing choose to be in my presence for more then five minutes.

I was sent over to Suna no kuni as a good will token from Kiri no kuni, mostly to establish good relations between Suna's new KazeKage and the Mizukage. What we know of him we've learned from Konoha, that he is powerful (no doubt about that.) he has a demon contained within him (surprise? No.) he has rather violently violent mood swings (who doesn't?) He's young, around my age actually (THAT surprised me.) and he's an insomniac. That's where I come in. Oniichi Edosuke last sane member of the Oniichi clan and master of the Nanatsu Seiryoku Mawaru. (Seven energy circle) plus holder of a few other more or less 'minor' and 'semi crucial' details.

But we'll get to that later on.

The Mizukage was confident in my abilities, well to think _I_ could be of any assistance to the Kazekage I must've been though pretty highly of. Then again Seikatsu is always telling me to have more faith in myself. Seikatsu's always right… I should listen to her more.

But as I stand here in an empty common room with only some relatively militaristic chairs and a few unimaginative paintings to keep me company the first pangs of nervousness creep slowly up and down my spine. Taking in a deep breath I manage to push the nervousness away and keep my features stoic.

Which is hard.

From the spot I've been standing in (for twenty fucking minutes!) I can see, just barely, the city and the vast desert. Far different then Kiri I'll tell ya that right now but it still has it's rugged beauty. Like a small oasis my traveling party stopped at or the purple, tangerine and vibrant red sunset's. The people though… they seem just as harsh as the desert.

Especially when they see the Kiri hitai-ate tied around my waist.

We'd arrived a day behind schedule (my fault like always. Or at least that's what they said.) and had been in Suna barely… forty five minutes now. Barely enough time to make myself presentable to the Kazekage but I did get a bath (nice.) and managed to change out of my traveling clothes and into my normal clothes.

(moss colored long sleeved half coat that ends just below my practically non-existent bosom, a tight black shirt underneath that, kind of long and covers the top inch or so of my pants which are the exact same color making it look like I'm wearing a one piece under my coat. My pants hang down and drag on the floor. They're to long but I hate tucking them in or rolling them up.)

My hair I'd pulled back into a half ponytail so that my chunky, sectioned, pointed at the end bangs were down and the half of my hair not in the mossy green bow fell just between my shoulder blades. Normally I'd be fidgeting with on of the multiple braids dangling randomly with my hair (both in and out of my half ponytail) with the traditional Oniichi coming of age hair beads.

(more like 'becoming a genin' hair beads; those were anywhere from orange-red, red, a mostly green with a light red center, to a glowing gold. Then the chuunin hair beads which were a silvery blue, or a yellow-rose with half blue and purple, or a glowing and seemingly whirling purple.)

My eyes

(which also seemed to cause the people of Suna so uncomfortable ness)

were a deep shaded forest green color with tiny flecks of gold that usually one could only catch in certain light.

The less consequential members of my traveling party stood (or sat) behind me mumbling quietly. They were relieved to be getting rid of me.

I knew that.

It hurt.

But that's okay.

The two jounin who'd led the party were speaking with the Kazekage and his council

(a.k.a apologizing for being late more or less.)

Even though non of my fellow nin's had their eyes on me, I felt as if I were being watched, being judged.

(In fact I'd gotten that feeling the second I'd set foot in the desert.)

Which is why I had decided to withhold myself, to remain standing when I could've sat, to keep my eyes focused upon the door the Kazekage and his council were behind as opposed to gazing out the window, to blink as little as possible, and not to smile. My eyes did not flicker around (they'd done that the second I'd entered the room.) my focus was not in my main vision but in my peripheral vision, and what was in my peripheral vision?

To the right a crappy painting of a family and to my left the large bay window that looked out over Suna. From behind the door I once again heard voices. Two familiar two not and I mentally prepared myself. The doors opened and through them came Hoko and Dojidai (the mist jounin) and three people I recognized immediately from the profiles Mizukage had given me. Temari walked on Hoko's right (my left) and on Temari's right (my left) was Kankuro and on the very right hand side (my very left) was Gaara of the Desert a.k.a Kazekage. A.k.a the person I had been (more or less) given to as a 'welcome to the wonderful world of Kage' present.

The five of them stopped before me and I bowed very low. Behind me I could _feel_ the other chuunin's bow and I could _taste_, and _smell _the fear that radiated off of them. As I raised from the bow I felt no surprise from the Kazekage, no surprise that nin's who don't know him or live in his village would fear him, no surprise, no anger, no joy, only acceptance.

_He must've gotten used to the fear by now. Poor guy._

It was with this thought that I made it my focus to exude vibes of respect and comfort towards him. I _felt _his surprise at my lack of fear, even when our eye's locked, _especially_, when our eyes locked.

"… suke- san." The switch in my focus from the Kazekage to Dojidai as he mentioned my name was a miniscule one and I bowed again out of respect. Normally I would've introduced myself but I've found that in situations like these it's best to keep my mouth shut, only speak when spoken to, and get straight to the fucking point as soon as possible only filling in details when asked to elaborate (which rarely happened.)

"If she presents any problems do not hesitate to punish her any differently then the people of the village would be punished simply because she is an outsider." Hoko said in her very feminine voice. With small farewell bows (out of tradition rather then respect) the traveling party I'd crossed the desert with left.

Nobody said goodbye, nobody looked back and after the group had gotten a ways down the hall I heard, distinctly, some relieved laughter and words that sounded faintly like 'thank God that bitch is gone.' I knew Temari and Kankuro, short of having hearing aids could've heard what they said but I could _feel_ the understanding and empathy coming from the Kazekage's eyes. No… it was coming from deep within himself, the eyes were only very foggy, cracked, hazy, teal colored windows into where the empathy had come from.

"Why did the Mizukage send you here?" Temari asked eyeing my petite frame. I knew what she was thinking. It was what everyone thought at first glance. 'she looks more like a dancer, like a ballerina, then a chuunin much less a shinobi.' Or something to that effect.

"I am trained in the art of physical, mental and charka healing." I answered simply. "I am the last of a very small clan with the ability; physically, mentally, emotionally, and in the sense of chakra capable of performing the aforementioned healing. Also I can make dumplings." Perhaps it was my dead serious face when I threw in the last (and somewhat random) note about dumplings. But let's face it… who doesn't like dumplings? EVERYbody loves dumplings. You can't not love dumplings. Temari and Kankuro looked sideways at the Kazekage, who shrugged indifferently. It was then that a sand nin opened the door.

"Temari-sama, Kankuro-sama your needed." Nodding the two left with the nin leaving me alone with the Kazekage. There was silence, lots of it too. But I was not uncomfortable. I could see how someone would be though, the way his eyes kind of tore a person apart, dissecting their strength and weakness, assessing character. And the dark rings around his eyes only seemed to magnify the thoughts of dissection.

"Your not human." (One of those 'minor' details I mentioned earlier.) He said at last. His voice was soft and sounded somewhat out of place (Probably because he rarely spoke) and it seemed to have just a bit of an edge that (had I not been keyed down and on guard since I'd entered the desert) I would've normally flinched at.

"No. I'm not." My reply was short and simple. He seemed pleased and motioned for me to follow him.

He showed me to the room and then left. To my mild surprise my stuff was sitting at the foot of my bed. Personally after a long few days of travel I was in the mood for dumplings

(though pretty much any and everything will set me in the mood for dumplings)

and (fortunately) the Kazekage had led me past the kitchen on the way to my room, so retracing the path I found myself in the deserted kitchen. It was here (surprisingly) I felt that I was able to fully relax, that I wasn't being watched over and I let my facial features relax and a small smile came to my face.

In no time I was humming as I made my Kiri famous 'Raimei (Thunder) Dumplings' and I found myself humming an old lullaby.

I felt the Kazekage's charka as he walked down the hall and paused at the entrance of the kitchen, but so enraptured in cooking was I, that I only continued humming as I worked on my made from scratch dumplings. After awhile he left and a few minutes later my 'Raimei Dumplings' were completed. As I walked back to my room (with a mountain of dumplings on my plate) I happened to catch a glimpse out of a window. A few moments to sunset. Smiling I sidled out of the window and leapt onto the balcony of a room then without hesitation I leapt onto the roof. (I have wicked awesome jumping skills. . b)

I looked up and my gaze was hooked to teal eyes outlined in black. I blushed slightly but my grin grew into a smile.

"Pardon me Kazekage-sama." I bowed; which was difficult with a massive plate of dumplings. "Would it be okay if I watched the sunset with you?" He blinked several times, looked taken aback, opened his mouth, closed it, then nodded and turned away from me.

Still smiling I crossed the smooth surface of the building's roof and perched next to him. Not close enough to invade the 'personal bubble' but not that far away. We sat there in silence for a few minutes. "Dumpling?" I asked holding the plate to him. He eyed them suspiciously and looked as if he would refuse, but I could _feel_ him second guess himself then he took one of the smaller dumplings and examined it closely. It was not until I took a large bite out of one that he nibbled the corner of his, decided it was good and in two bites the dumpling was gone. "Nother one?" I asked holding the plate to him with one hand and gnawing on my dumpling held in the other. His choosing process was far less extravagant. Back and forth we ate dumplings in silence and so it went until there was one retarded looking dumpling left and we both wanted it.

"You can have it." He said in a rather somber tone as he wiped some dough off his cheek.

"Oh don't be silly Kazekage-sama it's your house and I raided your fridge to make these so it's yours." I said pushing the plate towards him. Obviously I wasn't going to just shut up and eat the damn thing and he had manners enough not to eat the last one (what's so surprising? Just because he's a deranged killer doesn't mean he can't have manners.)

"Fine. We'll split the damn thing." He said and easily broke the small lumpy shaped dough packet filled with rice and veggies between his fingers. (How many bones had he broken with the same motion?) Being chivalrous he handed me the larger half and I ate it without comment. We watched the sunset over take the blue sky the tangerine and peach faded into crimson red with pink streaks and that succumbed to purple, navy blue, and finally night time.

"Thank you for allowing me to watch the sunset with you Kazekage-sama." I said standing and bowing. In the dark I could not see his expression but I could _feel _it.

"Edosuke-san." He said as I stepped on the edge. I looked over my shoulder at him. "When it's just you and me… call me Gaara." My smile broadened.

"Would you like to watch the sunset and eat dumplings tomorrow, Gaara-kun?" I could _feel_ his surprise at my question. His answer was a low and breathless 'yes.' "Then please, if this is going to be an everyday thing… call me Ed. Goodnight Gaara-kun." His response was a small nod. Silently I dropped from the roof and landed on the edge of the window to my room.


	2. In The Mindless Training

Perhaps it was the dumplings, or the sunset, or even though I'd only known him for a little less then an hour and I already liked him (probably all three.) but I couldn't sleep.

I was weird like that… the second I talked to somebody for more then five minutes without them getting irritated, or just turning around and walking away in the middle of what I was saying I liked them. There was now a total of four people I liked, four people I truly undoubtingly liked. And two I loved with all my heart. Two of the people on my 'like' list were the kids from my old team cell that one year I was in the academy.

That's right. I graduated from the academy in one year. I kick ass like that.

Team #19 myself, Yoshiboo Maru and Scaryu Shima. Though in the months leading up to my departure from Kiri (I still hadn't found out if it was permanent or not.) both of them had been away on a mission and I was left with only Seikatsu and myself, because the other person I liked was my first sensei, and he had been dead for a few years now, as had my first love.

(Back to the present.)

Sleep had never come easy for me. And normally I like to try and get some every once in awhile.

But I was restless tonight.

Couldn't sit still.

So I contented myself with training.

As of current I'd moved the bed all the way against the wall along with the rest of the furniture.

Except for a couch.

I was perched upon the right arm of said couch on the balls of my feet practicing Mizu/Oya Ryushutsu no Jutsu. It would be either Mizu (cold water) or Oya (hot water) depending on which kind of chakra was applied and if it were used simply as a taijutsu it would be Ryushutsu no Jutsu.

But anyway I practiced Ryushutsu no Jutsu because I simply didn't feel like summoning up and exuding chakra (however small the amount was) just for training.

That fact aside taijutsu is my weakest form.

So there I stood on the balls of my feet gliding easily from the arm of the couch to the backrest, to the other arm to the cushion back to the arm, cushion for a second then the floor. As I repeated this pattern I went through the hand motions. Left elbow, right jab, head butt, a succession of three right jabs, left hook, left uppercut, right palm upwards, left palm straight then upwards and finally both palms thrust forward and at that point I would've emitted either Mizu or Oya leaving my opponent either frozen or badly burned.

I repeated the Ryushutsu no Jutsu pattern, each time increasing my speed until I missed a step and fell off of the back of the couch with a thud.

That was the downfall of the Mizu/Oya Ryushutsu, missing one step even the tiniest bit… would cause the person to lose balance entirely. It was exhausting, I was exhausted, but not sleepy. So heaving an annoyed sigh I picked myself up and resumed the training from the beginning, moving as slow as my first one. And that's how the rest of my first night in Suna no kuni went.


	3. In The Cards

It wasn't until a month after I'd been there that Kazekage-sama actually began trusting me and inquired about my ability.

At his request I demonstrated on Kankuro-sama and he seemed pleased with the result. So here I stood about to knock on Gaara of the Desert, Kazekage of Suna no Kuni's door, whom even though I watched sunsets, with had never said more then a handful of words to me. It was weird, like entering the lair of some strange beast, like a bird being stalked by a large predatorily animal.

Scary.

My knuckles didn't even touch the wood but the door opened.

Sand wafted back towards the Kazekage's gourd and he looked up from the book he was reading. He nodded for me to come in and set his book down. "Evening Kazekage-sama." I bowed and entered and shut the door behind me. I sat down on the floor in front of him and smiled.

"I suppose we'll start with the Mandala spread?" He nodded and though I doubted he knew what I was talking about I was pleased to see that the book he had been reading was the one I'd given him that contained information of my art.

"The first is 'Self' This is the unifying principle in the human psyche, it embraces both the conscious and unconscious. It is through this we make contact with our anima and animus, and confront our shadow, that part of us which is split off and needs to be reintegrated."

I paused he was following what I was saying.

Good.

"The second is 'Desires' this is our instinctive urges and basic needs."

The part of my brain that held all my 'naughty' and 'smut' filled thoughts longed to add something about sex in there. Thankfully in the time I'd spent away from Shima I'd gotten the urge to blurt out stuff under control. She might not be the best influence (ignoring the fact that she got me kicked out of five different apartments of course.) but by God she made life interesting.

"Third is 'Dreams' What we ideally want to be, accomplish, have, or give to be a human being in the fullest sense; love, compassion, health, etcetera."

"Fourth is 'Pursuits' despite our dreams these are the things we wish to pursue; career, hobbies and so on.

"Fifth we have 'Attachments' These hold us back from achieving our true dreams. Attachments are usually false values like money, prestige, fame, and possessions."

"Next is our 'Qualities' basically our good points."

"Seventh is our 'Sorrows' or our faults, things that need improvement."

"Eighth is our 'Self- image' the overall view of ourselves this relates to the other seven cards specifically to the 'Self' card."

"Finally we have our 'Soul's urge' our true sense of purpose and destiny that transcends all else." I paused, taking a breath.

Normally I'm not chatty and usually I don't explain the spreads or the process; as you can see it's rather tedious.

"You forgot four cards." He said in a somber tone.

_So he really did read the book. _I smiled.

"Earth, Fire, Water and Air are only used in the Alchemical Spread." I explained as I took the Tarot cards from the right breast pocket on the inside of my coat.

He watched bemusedly as I shuffled the cards the pictures flashing by as I bridged them.

"Ready?" I asked bridging them a second time, he didn't respond which I took as a 'yes'. I held the deck out to him. "Coat your palm with some chakra then lay it lightly on the deck. This will make your reading be more accurate." Dark golden energy which looked like airy sand flitted lightly on the cards as he pressed his palm upon it delicately. I bridged it a third time then drew from the top of the deck laying the card's face down in the respective Mandala pattern. (The spacing on this is to close together.)

9

8 2

7 1 3

6 4

5

I flipped the number one card over it was The Magician, I moved to the second card and turned it nimbly it was The Empress, third was The Fool, fourth was The Chariot, fifth was The Five of Cups, sixth was Strength, seventh was The Lovers, eighth was The Three of Swords and lastly was The Ace of Wands. The Kazekage looked from the cards laid out in the Mandala pattern to me expectantly. I set about explaining.

"First we have The Magician, one hand pointing to the heavens the other towards the earth with the symbol for infinity over his head. He represents the powers we each process to create meaning in our lives. His hand positions tells us that creative power rests within us as well as outside but is always in reach. He holds great knowledge which he has learned through trial and error, he is extremely self-reliant and self-confident. The reverse meaning is that your lacking creativity or are afraid to experiment. At the same time it could also be saying that you are _too_ self assured and what worked once may not work again. But we don't have to worry about that because it's not reversed." I paused to clear my throat and moved onto the second card; The Empress.

"The woman on her throne amidst nature with a crown of hexagrams and a scepter represents life, death and change in the form of the Earth Mother or Mother Nature. She is the Empress. She represents the unseen forces in life that guide living things through growth. She enriches our souls and we can see her daily in all living things. She gives and takes without prejudice or judgment, she is the ebb and flow, she is the life cycle. She reminds us that things cannot stay the same, that life is constant. Her reverse meaning is a refusal to accept change , to be overly satisfied with material possessions and seeing them as more then momentary rewards. Also, not applying yourself to productive tasks, no growth. But like the magician… this is not reverse. So it means that you have accepted change and are growing up mentally." My finger wafted over to the third card; The Fool.

"This man in his colorful outfit and small traveling bag represents us seeking life. He is The Fool. Living to live. He represents the purity of action without hesitation or thought. He lives for the future, nothing holds him to the present and his traveling bag, light and small on a stick on his shoulder is behind him and does not weigh him down, this represents his past. Life has left few scars on him and he is a liberated spirit. He believes in all things especially the potential that life holds, but when asked to elaborate he'd simply smile and say 'Find out for yourself.' His source of knowledge comes from within. A sort of 'all things are possible' aura." I paused, noting the Kazekage's expression. "Does The Fool remind you of someone?" I asked quirking my head to one side. He blinked several times and looked hard at me, I could _feel_ his effort to keep the surprise off his face.

"_What?_" His voice was low and dangerous. Keeping calm I pretended not to notice his change in demeanor.

"Well… your eyes said that you were remembering something or someone that was very important in your life." I explained mentally exhaling (relieved) that his posture relaxed.

"Oh…" I suppose that was his way of apologizing for snapping. He motioned for me to continue so I did.

"Right… err… the reverse side of The Fool. The line between The Fool and foolishness is thin. It is a need to exert more caution over your actions. It could also mean that you are holding yourself back to much, that your ignoring your instinct or saying 'If in doubt, don't do it.' The Fool is reversed in this position." He nodded somberly, the nostalgia still flitted through his eyes but I let him be with his thoughts for a moment. I cleared my throat finally and he snapped up slightly, not much, but enough for me to notice.

"Fourth is The Chariot. It is a warrior like man in a chariot (duh) drawn by a black lion and a white lion. The charioteer is full of power, ambition, and determination; and from his youthful face we can determine that he represents the zest and burning desire the young have to succeed, win, and dominate. It reflect the innocent desire to charge into the world and claim what we can. It is, however, not the same innocence exerted by the fool who is at the beginning of the journey but the charioteer has a purpose his success will be measured in how much he accumulates, but later in life he will recognize that this will only limit his happiness. It also represents discipline and control, over his emotions and path through life. The reversed side of this is that he is _too_ focused on material gain, moving to fast and needs to slow down. A 'pull back on the reins' if you will. And a need to broaden your horizons. In this spread The Chariot is reversed." I paused again to clear my throat as I moved my focus to the sixth card; Strength.

"The mourning figure in a black robe, three cups spilt in front of him two empty cups behind him, is The Five of Cups. A you can infer from the picture… it isn't all that pleasant. The Five of Cups represent unhappy endings and broken relationships. But it reminds us that we need to pick up the pieces and start building again; to see what we can learn from our losses; to turn our back to the past and look to the future. What's gone is gone and finally to hold onto what we have, no matter how little it is." I paused, my hand strayed absently up to my neck, where, (under my coat and shirt) was the outline of a needle strung through at the tip with an short inscription. The only memento from my first real love. (Deceased.) My eyes snapped up and I dropped my hand, the Kazekage was looking at me curiously. I smiled.

"Sorry… bit of nostalgia…" I cleared my throat meaningfully. "The reverse, which this card is, means that although loss has been suffered, there is no reason to feel hopeless about the future. Things _will_ look up again and an old friend may hold the key." Another wave of what looked like him remembering an epiphany (major turning point in ones life) flooded through his eyes but I knew better then to mention this.

"The picture of the woman petting the lion is Strength. Unlike The Chariot, this represents inner strength which carries us through life against all obstacles. It is our ability to cope with changes both positive and negative. It gives us courage to make change when something is in our way and to carry on no matter how bleak the future looks. It is us believing in ourselves. It's reversed meaning is that we are not confident in our abilities and that we are looking outside of ourselves for what exists within, the will to go on, the will to live and survive regardless of the outcome. Time to heal our fears."

"This card isn't reversed…" His voice was quiet, I almost didn't hear him.

"Err… your right it isn't. That means that you have what it takes to survive, to pick up the pieces and continue on."

"Is this crap real?" His gaze flicked up from the cards to me. He was dead serious.

"Well…"

I hate explaining this stuff.

"that all depends on you." The Kazekage's expression encouraged me to continue.

"Well… you gave the cards and implement of your chakra which made them more susceptible to your life force. Or, like some believe, it's a matter of cold guessing, giving no definite answers but instead implying things which could be warped in and out of context by ones own ideas and thought process. Again I say… it all depends on you." I was about to continue with the seventh card but he cut me off.

"Do you believe in this?" Rarely was I asked my opinion, and rarely did the asker actually care what said opinion was.

"Well…"

I don't know.

"Yes. In all my years of doing this… the cards have never been wrong, good or bad… the outcome was always as predicted, though very few others noticed this calling it 'groundless science' and the like."

I shrugged.

"I have no reason not to believe in it." He nodded which I took as his way of saying 'continue'.

"The Lovers, male and female being blessed by an 'angel'. The Lovers represent many things. The union between male and female, building a future, the male and female side of our personalities male representing intellect and female representing a connection with our unconscious needs. The card also represents an absence of love in our lives." Another wave of nostalgia washed through the KazeKage's eyes and his features hardened, the 'ai' tattoo on his forehead seemed to glow a bit… or was that just me? "This one is not reversed but in retrospect it represents how love can blind and that a relationship could be out of balance. How one could be looking at only one side of a relationship or living with the misconception that they can go through life alone. The answers can't be found on the outside alone…" He looked far away… I could _feel_ his pain, which turned into anger, rage, then… nothing.

"Aah…" My head twinged painfully and I cringed rubbing my temple delicately.

"What's wrong?" His voice was filled with concern, well… as much concern as Gaara of the Desert had anyway.

"N-nothing…" I shook my head and smiled. "It's nothing to worry about." Did he scoot closer? It seemed like that.

"Anyway… number eight The Three of Swords. Three swords piercing a heart under rain clouds. This represents how it is necessary to remove what was causing you pain, trouble or difficulty. And now you experience new pain, but this pain will pass. The new pain will, however, cause you to sharpen your focus, to see new directions, and to put the problems of the past behind you. The reverse meaning is that your pain will remain until you acknowledge the reason for the separation or change you had to make . You must put it behind you so you can get on with your life. This card is reversed."

This time I didn't pause.

"And at last we come to the Ace of Wands. The hand and wrist emerging from the clouds holding the wand with foliage growing on it over the land represents new beginnings. The birth of an idea that leads to action, the start of an enterprise or new challenges. You can sense potential and look forward to the future. The reversed side means having trouble starting, false hopes, misdirected energy. This card is reversed." The silence hung in the air like a fart in an elevator for a few minutes as his teal eyes analyzed the cards rolling over each meaning.

I sneezed and his focus snapped up.

"Well… now that the first step is accomplished… would you like to attempt Nanatsu Seiryoku Mawaru no Jutsu?"

He looked apprehensive for a minute, but the words I'd just spoken about starting something new rolled through his mind, I could _feel_ it.

"Alright." The apprehension in his voice battled with determination, though he did well to mask both emotions.

He was good at that.

But over the past month I'd grown used to whatever slight mannerisms, tone, pitch, lip movement, and even eye movement he displayed, seeing as he displayed very few it was easy to pinpoint these things to emotion.

I gathered up the cards and slid them back into the hidden pocket in my coat then crawled onto his bed and sat so that my legs were folded under me. His apprehension was more evident now as he crawled sloooooooowly onto the bed and rested his head on my lap.

"Do you trust me?" I asked cracking my knuckles to ease the flow of chakra. He didn't respond, his eyes told me all I needed to know. "Relax… remember these numbers in this order; 0, 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 1, 5, 3." I formed several seals rapidly with my hands, I'd done this enough… I didn't have to think about it.

"Nanatsu Seiryoku Mawaru no Jutsu!" Seven tiny beads of energy appeared on my palms each one glowed a different color. "Close your eyes and relax." Gently I placed my hands on either side of his temples. At first my fingers hit sand, but it faded away and lightly I pressed my hands against his temples. "Think of the numbers and let your mind drift." I closed my eyes. I felt his body relax and cautiously, slowly, carefully, I pushed the energy beads towards him.

Sand licked against my hand, had it been any other person, had I not known him a month prior to this, I would've been startled and swatted at the sand thinking it a bug, but that would've broken the Jutsu causing damage not only to him but to myself.

"KazeKage-sama if at all possible would you please not move. Not even the sand. If my hands move now it will hurt both of us."

"I thought I asked you… to call me… Gaara… Edosuke… san…" He sounded so sleepy. Good… the Jutsu was working.

"And I asked you to call me Ed. Didn't I Gaara-kun?" He was drifting further into sleep. Soon… very soon.

"Yeah… you did… Ed-chan…" I was shocked but my hands remained as they were.

_Did he just…? _I shook my head slightly. _Focus… _Inside of me I felt a stir. It started out as a slow twirl where I drew root chakra from at the base of my spine, as it moved up past my sacral chakra I felt it grow in strength.

_Ready Seikatsu?_The skin on my back seemed to ripple as an answer. The stir grew in size, strength and speed as it passed up through my solar plexus, it felt encompassing around my heart and I felt like I was drowning… drowning in sand. This feeling increased as the stir became more violent around my throat. I refused the urge to gasp and on my lap I felt Gaara tense up, cringe in pain, relax, then tense again. The feeling of drowning increased as the violent stir reached my brow chakra and then finally the crown.

_Sei…SEIKATSU! _I called out desperately.

**_What are you doing!_** The voice ripped through my body and left me shuddering.

_SEIKATSU! _I couldn't do this on my own… what the hell was that bird thinking?

**_Tch. I trained you for this… you know what you have to do… don't rely on me to bail you out. I won't always be here…_** Her voice filled my mind and seemed to flush the drowning feeling away leaving me with the sensation of drifting on water.

**_Seikatsu…_** The voice growled, I felt it's tone vibrate up through the chakra I had connected to Gaara with. It resonated with power… and hatred.

**_Shukaku… have you nothing better to do then torment this boy?_** Seikatsu sounded **pissed off.** Which was an emotion I'd never felt from her. I felt another swoosh and the drowning sensation left me. **_I'll take care of Shukaku… heal the boy._** Again with the swoosh and the sensation of water and sand left me. I took in a calming breath and focused on the pulses moving through the chakra.

_Gaara?_ A noise like a radio on the static station was the response. _Gaara?_ The static seemed less dense… I could almost hear something… _GAARA! _

_Ed…? _The voice sounded far away and still static-ish. Suddenly there was a smear of colors all around and a flurry of noises, then there was only gold, blue and a sobbing. I blinked… _I was in his mind._


	4. In The Mind

Normally connecting with another person was like sitting in an all black room talking to a person, sometimes a picture would appear in blacks, grays and whites but this… this was incredible. Not only was it a full image, but it was in Technicolor, and yes… that was a breeze, I could feel the wind, the sand under foot and the dark storm clouds swirling violently above.

But they were blue.

The clouds didn't look like rain clouds… they were blue.

But they swirled like rain clouds. Odd.

"Ed…?" My focus snapped back to the ground to see Gaara… except he was midgetised.

He looked to be no older then five or so and didn't have the 'ai' tattoo on his forehead. But he looked so sad…

"Gaara…" He ran forward and hugged my legs tightly; I could feel his tears making tiny wet patches on my knees. I knelt down and hugged him. The poor kid… he was truly alone… this place… this desert was representation of his mind. He was still a kid. And this kid was all alone. But… Gaara had a small patch of dry grass with a single green blade in it. The small child hugged my waist tightly as I sat down and cradled him. "It's okay… your not going to be alone anymore."

Suddenly the small body in my arms grew, the grip around my waist tightened and then Gaara pushed back. He couldn't of been older then twelve. I was flung backwards by a torrent of sand.

"Why are you still here?" He yelled towering over me. The blow from the sand had knocked my breath out of me and when I didn't respond immediately he got very angry. I was then wrapped in a wad of sand with only my head sticking out.

"What are you doing Gaara?" I asked in a calm tone.

"I'm going to get you out of my head." Slowly I felt the sand tighten around me.

"If you kill me in here, I will die out there, and if I die out there… you'll never wake up again and you'll be stuck in here with Seikatsu and Shukaku."

"You're lying." The sand tightened again.

"Am I?" My voice was strained now from the pressure of the sand. "You're inexperienced with this sort of thing… so your ignorance is easily pardoned. But I am incapable of lying to you here, as you are incapable of lying to me in here. Go ahead… try…" He gave me a quizzical look; his eyes flickered around the empty scenery.

"Your eyes are bro-" He stopped and seemed to struggle with the words in the way a person struggles to remain sitting on top of an air filled ball in a swimming pool. "Bro… bro… brogreen…" Gaara was mildly surprised and I felt the sand slip away from my body. I coughed and brushed myself off.

"Shall we start the healing process?" I asked as if my near death experience had not happened. He looked at me incredulously and I just smiled.

"Fine." He mumbled as if he were admitting defeat. I plopped down on the sand and patted the space next to me. He sat down with a fwump and stared at me. _Hard. _Like I could _feel _his eyes on me like hands. I didn't shudder. "So… what now?" He asked impatiently.

"We talk." I said letting a small smile play across my lips. The boy looked at me as if I were stupid.

"We _what_?"

"I don't believe I stuttered. Go ahead… talk. I'll listen." He gave me a look as if he were trying to see through a prank.

"About what?" He asked finally. I shrugged.

"Anything you want. I have nowhere to be, besides time moves at a different pace in here. It can be slowed down so that a second lasts a year or sped up" I motioned up and down to him. "So that years go by in a moment." He looked at me skeptically, opened his mouth then closed it.

"I don't… know where to start…" He sounded embarrassed.

"We could ask each other questions, I could start talking, I could tell you some jokes or stories, you could tell _me_ some jokes, or you could just open your mouth and tell me what's on your mind. Or we could sit here in silence. What ever you want." His expression was (in nicer terms) that of 'shut the fuck up'. I shrugged. "Sounds good." I let myself fall backwards into the sand which was surprisingly soft and arched my arms around under my head so that they formed a pillow and I watched the sky whirl and twist violently above me. I don't know how long passed in that time, minutes, hours, days it was lost to me; what I _do_ remember is the question he asked.

"Ed…" He said my name so quietly, in a manner of fearing that if he spoke my name to loud it would break. "… this place… what is it?" My head lolled to one side and I saw him lying in the sand next to me, his hands folded over his stomach and his teal eyes fixed on the sky.

_Ah… he opens up…_

"More or less… it's your mind, this is the place where strong memories are held, where dreams come from, where those random thoughts that don't seem to have any ground come from. It's a place our minds retreat to when we want to escape reality. Some say it's our imagination… but it's _more_ then that… it's _bigger_ then that."

I kinda suck when explaining this stuff.

"Oh." He sounded like he understood. "Your place… what's it look like?"

_He's never this chatty on the outside._

"Well… it's kind of like this… vast… empty… except… instead of sand… mine's a giant ocean. Instead of that patch of grass you have; mine's a bit of land, just enough for me to stretch out on. It has six flowers, two of them are dead, three are still growing and one is in an eternal bloom. The sky above is almost exactly like yours except there are swirls of reds, grays, oranges, purples, and black. But… just like you… when I go there… I'm alone."

"What… what do 'normal' people's places look like?"

For some odd reason I took his phrase and somehow, someway managed to turn it into something dirty. Again I blame Shima's influence. I giggled then shook my head and glanced at him. He was looking at me.

_Hard_.

Again.

"Normally in a place like this a person has ghost's or shadows of other people who were close to them… semi transparent images of people, normally a place in the mind would look like a forest, each 'tree' would be a memory, usually a fond one."

"Why is mine so desolate?"

"Do you remember the Five Of Cups?"

"Hold onto what you have no matter how little it is…" He quoted. Absently my hand roved up to the shape beneath my coat and shirt. "What is it?"

"Eh?" I asked turning my head to see him on his side _very _close to me his eyes dead locked on the vague shape under my outfit. "It… it's a memory…" I covered the shape with my hand. Why didn't I want him to see it? Then again nobody except Seikatsu, myself and the person who had given it to me knew about it.

"Let me see it." His hand reached and I freaked out.

"Do you mind!" I asked swatting his hand away. His expression darkened.

"I want to see it…" He seethed and then before I realized it the sand bogged my hands down and I was stuck. "Stop it!" His hand reached out and I struggled, but in doing so he ripped not only the front of my coat but my shirt as well. Thankfully he only ripped the front of my coat and enough of my shirt to make it a one shouldered top. He reached for the light blue cord of my necklace and yanked it off.

"It's a needle…"

He looked from it to me.

"… and it has stuff carved in it…" Gaara mumbled the second part then read the inscription aloud.

"_I'll forever love you, even if you're doomed, we'll always be together 'cause we're both under the moon _(- ICP) –Haku." ( I'll touch on that point later on.)He looked oddly from the needle to me and saw tears bubbling in the corners of my eyes. The sand released me. "Ed… what's wrong? Did the sand hurt you?" I wiped my eyes and sat up.

"Please… can I have it back?" He looked down at the needle then back to me and silently held the cord out. I took it.

"Look I didn-"

"Can you tie this for me?" I asked completely ignoring what would've developed into and apology from him.

"Look I-"

"Just forget it okay? We have more important things to do." I said turning around to face him. He blushed and looked away, looking down I realized that my torn shirts were showing off what little endowments I had. "No worries." I placed my palm over the beginning of the rip and moved it slowly upwards. As if it were on a zipper the cloth reattached and I was once again covered.

"See? No harm done… now go on and talk. I won't interrupt." I don't know what it was but somehow I connected with his twelve year old form and he talked.

Woo crap did he talk.

But it wasn't boring and the main focal point of his talk focused around the chuunin selection exam in Konoha.

(Where I'd first seen him.)

He spoke of a fight with a boy in the final part of the exam, of Suna's plan to attack, of him losing control, and of his fight with Naruto.

After a long silence his eyes met mine.

"So… what do you think?"

"I think…" I paused to smile. "The we have made progress. Are you ready to wake up?"

He nodded.

Without a word I embraced him. I felt the sand encompass me up to my waist.

"Gaara, please drop the sand. It's just a hug." He relaxed ever so slightly and the sand dripped slowly from my waist. "Hold on tight." Colors smeared all around and I felt something close to a light mist haze over my body and seep inside of me.


	5. In The Emotions

_Seikatsu… your exhausted what did you do to Shukaku?_

_**That Tanuki has a lot of anger and hatred… but he is also lonely. And horny. I just used some jutsu to make his 'priorities' rearrange. Now as opposed to 'kill kill kill' it's more like 'sex sex kill' and there's a good chance Shukaku will be in control of the boy's body. So since Shukaku hasn't been fucked in a good sixteen years; I suggest you move. Fast. If you want to avoid getting ravished that is.**_

The colors slowed down and I threw myself off the bed to the left where the door was. I hit the floor on all fours and looked up to see Gaara kneeling on the edge of the bed, his breathing was heavy, his eyes were dilated slightly and in them I could see what I'd never seen in his eyes before. Lust. I stared at him for a moment, in his eyes I could see the Kazekage battling with Shukaku for control. It was only a second after the tanuki won that he leapt at me. I wasn't prepared and was still mildly dazed from the jutsu. His hands grabbed my shoulders and shoved me onto my back.

"GARUMF" He cut my words short by crushing his lips against mine. Great… my first kiss was to shut me up and now I was going to get raped. Good plan Seikatsu real nice.

_**Personally I think it's about time.**_

_You did NOT just say that. You APPROVE of me getting raped? You sick fu- Holy crap he is sucking on my lip…_

Indeed he was. And it was nice. I could _feel _Seikatsu smirking, if birds could smirk that is. The kissing was good, the kissing was very good, his legs straddling me were a bit unnerving and the hands that explored the cloth I wore made me uncomfortable. The sound and feel of my coat being torn at the clasps and then tossed aside barely registered in my mind. Though I did feel colder seeing as the shirt under my coat was sleeveless. But all this outpouring of affection… it was going to my head. Then I felt the tip of his tongue trace from the bottom of my throat, around the side and he nipped the space where my neck became my shoulder.

I gasped. And, involuntarily I might add, my back arched up against him. I could feel his smile on my skin. He continued nibbling and then bit down. Hard.

"Aah…" At first he just licked the blood from my wound but pretty soon he was suckling at my neck like a piglet would at a sow's teat. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought I heard Seikatsu laugh. His hands roved down my shirt front and then I felt him lift the cloth.

_Okay… too much too soon this has got- Ah…_

His tongue touched lightly on the pale and very sensitive skin over my stomach and abdamin. Getting touched was rare, even the very huggy Shima would give me only a quick squeeze, and in battle I exuded charka from my hands as opposed to actually touching the opponent. So this physical contact on my _bare skin _was uncharted territory for me. Yes I still had qualms about the Tanuki being in charge but seriously.

He was licking my stomach.

And then he tugged on my pants.

"S-Stop it!" Was that my voice? Must've been because Gaara was looking at me through half opened eyes.

"**Weren't you the one who was moaning and arching up against me?**" It was Shukaku's voice mixed in with Gaara's. It was low and husky and veeeeery erotic.

"Th-that's not the point!" I tried to sit up but he pushed me back to the floor and his hand pinned my throat to the floor.

"**You** **think I'm just going to stop? It's been sixteen fucking years… Less patient demons can't go that long without a good screw**." An animalistic grin crossed his face. "**And you just happen to be that screw**."

"Stop it!" A low growl came from his throat and his other hand shot out.

At first I thought he was going to hit me but his fingers wrapped around my wrist.

I prepared myself for the pain of having my hand ripped off, bones ground to dust, skin peeled, all sorts of nasty pain filled things. But nothing of what I had been expecting happened.

I watched as he brought my hand up and delicately kissed the pads of my fingertips, then he licked them, and then my index and middle finger disappeared between his lips and I felt him sucking on them lightly.

"Aaah…" He nipped them carefully and removed my fingers from his mouth.

"**I can be gentle…**" He chuckled low in his throat then rapidly his cheek was against mine and his chest was pinning me to the ground. **"…or I can be rough…"** He said in my ear rolling the r's. Dear _GOD _that only made me hornier. "**It really all depends on you**." He paused and released my throat favoring to cross his arms over his chest as he sat up and stared down at me.

I gaped at him. What the hell? Was this the Tanuki or had Gaara gained back some control?

He smirked. "**I said I wanted a screw not a power trip. If I wanted that you'd be well raped by now. But… regardless nobody is leaving this room un-fucked.**"

How the hell is someone supposed to answer to that? My first time with a sexual experience and I was going to be raped. Yeah great plan Seikatsu.

And as much as I hate to admit it… I was tempted to take him up on that offer. How bad could it be? He _HAD_ promised he'd be gentle. Well it wasn't really a promise, more of an ultimatum. My quiet pondering was interrupted by the impatient tanuki grabbing the same hand he'd put in his mouth at first I thought he was going to lick my fingers again but instead he guided my hand southward and I could feel him bulging beneath the cloth of his pants, the _thin_ cloth of his pants, under my palm.

"**Feel that girl?**" His voice was a low purr as he forced my hand to stay against him. "**It's for you… pleasure and pain. You wouldn't refuse such a generous gift from the Kazekage now would you?**" I blushed. Good _LORD_ it was hard to focus on an escape plan considering not only where my hand was but the way he was looking at me. The lust was still in his eyes and I felt something stir inside of me which sent a small tremor running down my spine. He smirked apparently feeling me quiver under him. "**Good girl**." And then his weight was off of me.

For a very small sliver of a second I missed the feel of his body against mine and then I was lifted up by two wads of sand around my wrists and more or less slammed into Gaara's chest where arms held me against his body tightly.

"**This… you won't forget… or regret…**" His voice was little more then a rumble from his chest to my own.

_Holy crap…_

_**See now had you not been so difficult in the beginning you could already be nude and in bed with him.**_

_I can't believe you actually condone this Seikatsu._

**_What can I say? The tanuki hasn't been screwed in sixteen years, regardless of who you are that's a long time. So of course I can relate to his pain. Besides… we're linked so I'm getting fucked too._**

_What! You horny fucking bird! I'm getting raped just so you can get your jollies?_

Seikatsu clucked her tongue. **_You act as if your not getting anything out of this. Besides you can't rape the willing._**

_I really hate you right now. _Further conversation with the bird was cut off by Gaara's teeth seizing the previously damaged, though mostly healed, bite he'd left on the curve of my neck and reopening the wound. He sucked the blood that gushed forth and herded me the short distance back to his bed.

I tripped over the edge of the bed and lay in the fluff of the blankets looking up wide eyed at Gaara who loomed over me like a predator about to pounce.

"**The boy would like to know if you want this**."

Apparently my answer was a yes because the response was in Gaara's voice as opposed to the mix between the tanuki and Gaara.

"Good."

Somewhere in the background I heard Seikatsu make several noises of excitement as Gaara's body was once again looming over me straddling my hips. He opened his mouth to say something but I grabbed his coat and pulled his body down over mine.

Then there was a knock at the door.

"Kazekage-sama you needed quickly!" The voice sounded frantic.


	6. In The Desert

Wordlessly and swiftly I got off the bed and put on my coat, straightening out my clothes and my hair in an effort to look unmolested. Gaara crossed the space between his bed and the door swiftly and opened it, enough so that he could speak with the person but still closed enough to let said person know that he was not welcome inside the Kazekage's room.

I didn't stall or wait to listen to what was so urgent, none of my business really. So like a good little shinobi I exited through his window, hopped onto the sill then pushed chakra out of my feet and landed in a half crouch on the roof. Taking in a composing breath I crossed the roof and dropped down the other side to the balcony of my room.

**_Stupid human…_** Seikatsu growled. My eyebrow quirked.

_Now now Seikatsu…there was no way he could've known that we were there and even if that messenger boy did know… if it were important enough to interrupt the Kazekage then regardless of the Kazekage's activities he would've interrupted. No need to go Akai Satto (Red Flood) on a mere mortal… you'd of destroyed the entire village and all the people… you must remember that they don't know how to swim. _I chided her sitting down cross legged on the edge of my bed. Closing my eyes I could see her, a beautiful crane, feathers that would shimmer different shades of blue, teal, and green, long graceful legs, a long elegant beak and sharp intelligent eyes. Seikatsu the seven tailed demon crane of Kiri no Kuni.

**_Heh…_** I could feel her anger slowly ebbing away. **_Your too damn smart kid… then again I suppose the jutsu I performed on Shukaku is going through it's aftershock._**

_Hmm?_

**_Well… it's like with your Nanatsu Seiryoku Mawaru, how you can connect with a persons mind through the fourteen chakra points on each of your hands by threading them through the persons crown and brow chakra points… I did a little threading with Shukaku while we were separated in the boys mind; except I transferred some things to him and he transferred some things to me, hence the tanuki's hornieness and my anger._**

Her eyes were smiling

_Ah… I was surprised. I haven't felt you that angry since before the little… accident…_

_**Yes. You know I've never really forgiven you for that…**_

_We've been through this… it wasn't my fault._

**_Yes it was you stupid girl. Getting yourself severed… honestly._**

I felt a slight tickle about halfway between my bellybutton and my crotch where I knew a jagged and discolored line ran around my hips like a low slung belt. Smiling I ran a hand over the cloth of my pants from my outer thigh to my knee. I could feel it but I couldn't, it was merely pressure as opposed to the actual sense of touch.

_You know I've never stopped thanking you for that._

_**I should have just left you for dead… it's quite annoying that your sap my chakra and I'm constantly having to heal and mend your lower half just to keep you alive.**_

I scoffed at the bird.

_Oh Seikatsu… you silly little creature… you and I both know that when I die, you die._

**_Yeah and if we don't submerge in water soon we are going to die._**

_Do you remember where that oasis was?_

Seikatsu made a noise as if she had been severely insulted.

**_Are you kidding? I can feel it from here. Hell I can feel about twelve oases and every well within fifty miles of here._**

_What the hell are we waiting for? Let's go!_

I opened my eyes halfway and slid off of the bed. "Perhaps I should leave a note…" Absently I scrawled a quick note that I'd gone to an oasis and not to worry if I wasn't back by…

_**Noon.**_

_What the hell are you talking about? Noon is far to long. I don't want to have to travel through the desert mid day. We'll be back by dawn._

_**Pansy.**_

_Tch. If you keep acting like that then we aren't going._

She grumbled in defeat but, giving in a bit, I wrote down breakfast as opposed to dawn. Folding the note with care I placed it on the sparse desk so that anyone who entered would easily find it, grabbed a water canteen and leapt onto the balcony. Cool wind whipped and slithered through my hair and around my body. In the month and a half since I'd been in Suna I hadn't left the village. Then again I didn't really need to… but one of the wells had dried up and the limitations on water usage got stricter. This was a necessary excursion, besides I'm sure no one would miss me.

_Lead the way birdie._

I felt chakra rush upwards like a current of water from the base of my spine to my nose. I closed my eyes and leaned into the wind. The sweet, sweet smell of water thrilled in my nostrils and I felt a shiver of anticipation and excitement roll down my spine. I couldn't help it, with an excited squeal I swan dived from the fourth story balcony, flipped around in mid fall and landed in a half crouch on the hardened sand. Opening my eyes I took in a calming breath and walked towards the gate. The guards nodded to me as I passed by, I frequently went to the village at night so they were unconcerned about me. I forced myself to walk through the village, running would draw unwanted attention.

It wasn't until the village disappeared behind several sand dunes that I let my excitement take hold and more or less shoved chakra down into my legs so that I bounded over the dunes like a kangaroo rat. True this sapped up chakra but the benefit of having a demon like Seikatsu inside of me was that drinking water replenished her, thus replenishing me. Had I not been who I was and had I not had Seikatsu this little trek would've taken about two hours or so… but being who I was, I was at the oasis in about thirty minutes.

It was beautiful… palm trees, a few bushes some grass and a very large pond. Well it was only twenty five meters across, a mere puddle by Kiri standards but for the desert that was pretty big. I paused at the edge of the water… the way the moon light and the stars glinted off of it… I felt tears well up in my eyes and slowly find there way down my cheeks. The skin on my back and the portion of my body below my sever line rippled with Seikatsu's impatience.

_Yes yes… I'm going I'm going._

I removed my torn jacket slowly, just to irk the bird; as the coat fluttered to the ground I carelessly lifted the sleeveless, black shirt over my head and dropped it behind me.

_**MOVE FASTER!**_

_Patience is a virtue. _I told her in an annoyingly singsong voice as I removed my shoes, hitai-ate and pants leaving me standing at the edge of the water in my underwear. I took a step into the water and my feet slowly lost color until they didn't exist anymore. I waded into the water and soon my body below the scar on my hips melted into the water. I was now just a torso in the middle of an oasis; but of course the water and lack of light was enough that a person at the edge of the pool wouldn't be able to see past my bosom anyway.

I would've liked to say that my swim and rejuvenation went without incidence, but if I said that I'd be lying and I'm not fond of lying.

"Well well well… what do we have here? A lost little girlie?" I opened my eyes to see nine rather grubby looking men surrounding the pond.

_Ah shit._

In my eagerness to piss Seikatsu off and get into the water I had forgot to check around for people. And of course these weren't just any people, they were bandits.

_Seikatsu... be reasonable now…they haven't done anything._

Her response was a rather feral noise and I could only sigh.

"I'd suggest that all you get out of here while she's still somewhat sane." Several of the men laughed. "I warned you. Have fun Seikatsu." The men all tensed looking around and suddenly a rope flew out of one of the trees and looped around my neck. Whoever was in the tree yanked back sharply and lifted my body out of the water. Looks of triumph from the bandits quickly turned to horror as a I dangled in the air trying to pry the rope off of my neck with a few organs hanging out from where my lower half should've been. Water slithered up the rope and a scream was heard from the man in the tree followed by an explosion of blood. The water that was still on my hair severed the rope and I plunged into the pond. My head didn't submerge so I was able to see the rope get sucked into the tree. After a few rustles the man fell from the tree only to stop halfway, the rope was around his throat and as his lifeless body swayed in the breeze; everyone present got a view of his entire chest cavity which looked as if it had exploded.

As if remembering that they had legs the men turned to run but the water in the pond swelled up and a massive claw like tube of water shot out, made a wide arc and turned into a tidal wave shoving the men back into the pond.

At this point I was more concerned with getting my vital bits and pieces back into place so you can see how those men's deaths' weren't the top on my importance list.

By the time I did look up all of the men were strung up by ropes from the sparse palm trees. All of them were little more the gristle then attached by skin. The pond was dyed red from all of their blood.

**_Ahhhh…_** The bird sighed in a satisfied manner. **_You know the only way this day could get any better is if you had let Gaara fuc-_**

_Oh shut up…and gimme a hand here…I can't find my liver…_

I felt the red water swirl up and a chunk of something was shoved back into my body. Sighing I closed my eyes and floated onto my back and starred at the sky.

_**Something's coming…**_

I felt the water current push against me and urge me to sit up, so I did. Something about the approaching energy felt… familiar. I blinked and there he was. His eyes were wide, his lips were parted slightly and he looked dazed. I felt the water push on me and lift my body up from the water, his eyes dilated slightly and he watched as the bloody water that had been dripping down my body seemed to fill into an invisible mold and my lower torso filled into it's normal shape and color. Gaara's eyes returned to normal size and he licked his bottom lip, I could tell he was struggling with Shukaku. Behind me I felt the water surge and swell up, then I felt it form and what looked like wings made out of water made a loose circle around my body in a protective manner. He closed his eyes and his body bowed forward slightly, the sand behind him rippled and he clutched his forehead in his hands.

_**They must've smelled the blood.**_

Seikatsu's head, made of water, moved so that she was right next to my head.

_**Watch. Don't look away. This is how we could've been. This is what could've happened. Watch and be grateful.**_

I did, and as I watched I barely noticed the water bring my clothes to me and dress me. I could feel something pulsating inside of his body and then he seemed to change… his skin changed, it hardened, and cracked looking very much like a shell of sand. At first he looked as if he were in pain, then… then as most of his body was that of a tanuki and he started laughing. It was loud, raspy, and very very scary; it was in the same deep husky voice that was half Gaara half Shukaku. As I watched this awesome display of power and how he changed… I was terrified.

_**It seems the blood and the full moon have gone to their heads… weak minded boys.**_

_Ah but how quickly you forget who brought forth the blood._

_**Now is hardly the time for your smarmy remarks child.**_

_Oh you jus don't have a good come back…wait... is he okay?_

_**Oh shit!**_

The bloody water that had been Seikatsu tidal waved down over my head as a claw arm of sand shot forward where my body had been.

_I blame you._

_**Less talk more fight.**_

The water pushed my body to and above the surface like a red pillar and I felt luke warm liquid surround me. I now resembled something close to what Gaara looked like, half my own body half the demon incarnate. Two bloody red water wings emerged from my shoulder blades, my feet and legs had turned into bird claws, and I knew that there were now seven tail feather at the base of my spine right above my butt.

"**Seikatsu…**" The boy growled as me and the bird stood atop the water drenched in blood yet calm as ever.

"**Shukaku.**" Both of our voices rang out together as we addressed the boy and his demon. The part of me that was still me was scared, I didn't want to fight Gaara; but the part of me that was Seikatsu was shivering with anticipation, it had been so long since I'd had a good fight…

_**You know child… we're at a severe disadvantage.**_

_How far away is the next oasis?_

_**Twenty minutes at top speed. I doubt we'll make it in time.**_

A rather feral grin came to me. Slowly I knelt down, my index and middle fingers grazing the surface of the water. He looked at me with a quirked eyebrow and a smile to wide for his face.

"EEEERAH!" I brought my left hand forward in an upward diagonal slash sending a tidal wave of water towards Gaara. As expected sand rushed forward and met with the water turning it into a muddy wall. The water on my back propelled me forward with the other half of the pond water attached to my fingers like a giant ribbon. As the mud sluggishly moved aside I brought the other half of the water cascading down from above. Seikatsu and I smirked as the sand moved to block the water in a dome above him, then collapsed on top of him.

_**And now we go.**_

Twisting in midair the water on my shoulder blades propelled me high above the landscape; we had to get to another water source as fast as possible, the water that formed my wings was raining down with every movement. As we put distance between Gaara and Shukaku and enormous geyser of sand erupted forcing us to dodge chunks of mud. I chanced a look back to see a muddy and what looked like sleeping Gaara sticking out of a mountain of sand that was slowly forming into a tanuki.

_Eeep…_

Seikatsu laughed as we hurtled through the air dodging sand with a massive blood lusting sand demon right behind us. I had never been so scared in my entire life and the damn bird was laughing all the way. We twisted, dived, dipped, and did everything possible to avoid getting swatted to the ground. After what felt like forever I saw the tiniest bit of green and almost cried as I saw a glint of blue, courtesy of the full moon light.

**_It's do or die kid…_** Inhaling sharply the water folded inwards around me and we dropped like a rock in a diagonal line towards the new and slightly larger oasis. The force with which I dived into the water would have shoved a normal human's heart into their feet. But I must say, God bless my abnormality because when I hit the water it felt as if I'd just leapt onto a giant fluffy pillow. The second I submerged the entire oasis was engulfed in a tidal wave of sand. It was, however, to late to stop me. The water repelled the sand and where the pond once was stood a giant crane made from water with me, more or less, displayed on her forehead like a crest.

Shukaku's roar was like an earthquake, I felt it reverberate through my entire body and, yes, I was terrified. Seikatsu merely blinked at him.

"**How like you Shukaku. So loud and annoying. Do you truly believe that I will lose to you simply because of the terrain?**" Her voice was calm and very together. The sand demon chuckled a bit and that slowly rose to a full scale bellowing laughter.

"**You stupid bird… I have no intention of killing either of you… at least not now… you and the girl will make interesting play mates for awhile.**" Seikatsu laughed.

"**You're far to arrogant.**"

"**And you're far to stupid. Look around you… I control all of this. Do you really think you can win?**"

_He has a point you know. _

_**Yeah… you have to wake up Gaara… it's the only way to get the demon back inside of him.**_

_Alright… do your thing Seikatsu… just give me a clean launch at him._

With the sound and force of white water rapids what looked like a snake tail made out of water gushed forward, sand rose up and blacked the water whip from smacking Shukaku in the face. I was sucked down into the body of Seikatsu and saw a water doppelganger take my place. The water around my was dark blue, nearly black, but I could faintly see a yellow orange outline that looked like Shukaku and a golden outline that was shaped like Gaara. Sensations of sand and water slamming together then becoming mud pulsated all around me and I could feel Seikatsu's power diminishing.

_**Alright kid… get ready… this is no holding back… you gotta hit him hard and don't let go until Shukaku's gone. Got it?**_

_Yeah yeah just let's get this over with._

_**Right. Here we go!**_

There was a shriek that I faintly related to the sound of lightening and the bird charged forward. This was an all or nothing thing, most of the water had been transferred to mud, both the demon and I were reaching our ends. She charged forward, water rushed at the tanuki like a dam exploded and it was swamped immediately by sand. A the newest mud hill squished to the ground Seikatsu's body slammed into Shukaku's and I was launched out of her chest cavity straight up. I popped out of her head and dropped like a rock straight for Gaara. Sand rushed up to greet me but spiked torrents of water zoomed past me turning the sand to mud and causing a hole big enough for me to fall through. I pretty much body slammed into Gaara and his body bent backwards at an odd angle and I heard his back pop.

Just like Seikatsu said I didn't let go. I buried my head against his chest and grabbed my wrists so that my arms formed a circle around his waist. I didn't let go as the sand encompassed us and turned to mud, I didn't let go as I felt Seikatsu de-manifest and return, exhausted, to my body, and I didn't let go when I blacked out because of the oxygen sapping mud the was now wrapped around me.


	7. In The Past

(A/N) Okay the following is what Edosuke's team mates (Shima and Maru) looked like during the chuunin exam.

(Yoshiboo Maru, fourteen, quiet and observant it is not in his nature to start things but to finish them. At 5'5 he's not a very startling presence but then again he isn't exactly king of munchkin land either. Looks: Birds nest black hair with a reddish sheen to it; he is slightly pale and resembles a certain red headed gourd carrying boy from the desert (Minus one blood engraved tattoo). Black t-shirt, white-ish blue vest, and dark blue pants. Kiri hitai-ate tied on his right bicep.

Scaryu Shima while the same age as Maru she has the usual traits of the Scaryu clan; 6'3 loud, obnoxious, hyper, her hair runs through every shade of red, orange and yellow making it look like her head is on fire, basically an Amazon warrior looking girl. White t-shirt with long sleeve fishnet shirt underneath, cut off light blue shorts Kiri hitai-ate belted around her waist.)

---

"We were just children… still are in fact.

All I remember from the day he found me is that there had been a fire in our village and I'd blacked out from smoke inhalation, then when I awoke I was in his arms and I was safe. He trained me. He molded me. And then... He forgot about me.

Oh it was nothing sudden, and I was alone for a long time after that but… oddly I feel no ill will towards them. One was my master, my sensei, and the other was a fellow student, my peer, but not only that… my love. With all my heart I loved him. Sadly he devoted his life to sensei and it was that devotion which made him superior. Soon, I suppose, I adored my fellow student more so then my sensei; which led to problems. My training fell to a steady halt as sensei focused more and more upon helping my fellow to become strong. To become his perfect tool.

I probably could've aided , my sensei better… but… After the little 'accident' I was suffering from severe chakra depletion. It took a majority of Seikatsu and my own chakra stores to simply keep me alive. I became a liability.

Finally… I just left. I tried to slip off quietly in the night, unnoticed and such. But, he'd advanced so far, my peer, he caught up to me and though he seemed sad to see me leave, agreed that it was best. It wasn't that my affection was unreturned, it's that Zabuza sensei had saved him from a fate worse then my own. But at the last time I saw Haku he gave me one of his needles with an inscription on it and a string through it. I'll never forget, when he tied the string around my neck he kissed my forehead

"_Don't cry. We'll meet again someday."_

Those words still echo in my mind.

But what hurt the most was that both Haku-chan and Zabuza sensei died. I never got to say goodbye. Somehow I knew that when he gave me the needle that that was it. I never said goodbye. Not back then. I remember clearly what I had said…

"_Haku, I won't say goodbye, because I know we'll be together again. Once your's and Sensei's dreams are fulfilled then I won't be in your way and I can come back."_

Whether naivety or blind hope I don't know but… as I stood before their graves with only Haku-chan's needle and fond memories of the both of them… I didn't cry. I couldn't cry. I wouldn't cry.

I had been with them for six years. Six long years that are now little more then a blur of training, blood and sweat.

As the moon waned in the sky I had unscrewed the top of Haku-chan's needle and in it I placed soil from Haku-chan and Zabuza sensei's graves.

"I will find your murderer Haku-chan." As I stood I re-screwed the top of the needle and tucked it back into my shirt.

"Edosuke… let's go." It was Maru accompanied by his ever present smell of fresh water.

"Of course." In a blur we were gone leaving two graves in the moon light

* * *

It was the next day that we arrived in Konohagakure for the chuunin examines. That's when we first saw them, when I first saw him. 

Shima and I were sitting a top a rooftop eating lunch we got from Ichi- something… good noodles, mediocre coffee. Maru had wandered off somewhere leaving a twelve year old me and a fourteen year old Shima to our own devices for entertainment. Never very smart.

But we were eating and observing some natives interact. It was rather comical, a snobby little kid with a long scarf had collided into a guy in a black outfit with what looked like a mummy on his back and was about to get his ass kicked.

"D'you think we should you know… do something?" Shima asked shoveling the still steaming noodles into her mouth as the little blonde haired leaf nin started freaking out and charged the guy holding the kid.

"Naw… sensei told us not to involve ourselves with anybody because that would humanize them and then we might feel regretful if we have to kill them." I responded paraphrasing Roku-sensei to the best of my memory. The blonde one was easily flipped and landed on his ass. "Besides this is kinda funny." She shrugged slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Suddenly a rock flashed by and hit the face painted nin with an audible 'smack'. Attention was diverted to the tree the projectile had come from.

"Can you see anybody Ed-chan?" Shima asked squinting and leaning forward.

"See what?" Both Shima and I startled at the quiet voice.

"God dam-" Before Shima could go on an hour long screaming rampage about how annoying his sneaky habit was, I interjected.

"A person in that tree nailed the big guy." As attention was returned to the scene a few buildings away in the street two other guys appeared.

"Kyaaa! That boy is HOT!" Shima cawed ogling the dark haired boy as if she'd like nothing more then to stuff money down his pants. My eyes were on the other boy however… the red head…

"Maru… who is that?" I asked looking between the black haired boy behind me to the redheaded one in front. Aside from the eyes, hair color and 'ai' tattoo the two boys looked pretty much the same. (well clothes too but that's a given, I mean come on someone from Kiri isn't gonna dress the same as a person from Suna.) A soft growl emerged from Maru's throat.

"Those… the red head, the blonde girl, and the big guy in black… they're my cousins…"

"Daaaaang… you would look much hotter with red hair Maru." Shima said casting a sideways glance at the fourteen year old.

"Shut up." He snarled turning on his heel and walking to the opposite end of the roof. "Get off your asses, we have to turn in our forms." He snapped stepping off the roof and dropping out of view. I cast Shima a look that said 'you-are-the-biggest-dumbass-in-the-known-universe'.

"What'd I do?"

"Shima…" I took in a sharp breathe as if being in her presence elicited pain into my forehead. "You know, far better then I do, that Maru has some 'issues' with his father and his father's side of the family. You know… his fathers older brother, his uncle, is the Kazekage, the one who banished him from Sunagakure, the one who killed his dad… ringing any bells here?" The exceptionally tall girl scratched her head with a nervous laugh.

"Oh yeah… that. But why would he-"

"You basically told Maru, the guy your family prearranged for you to marry, that his cousin, a boy born from a man he absolutely despises, looks a lot more attractive then he does. You're his fiancé for crying out loud! The least you could do is wait until he's out of hearing range before you start shouting out all your perverted little thoughts." Her golden colored eyes widened slightly.

"Oops…"

"Yeah… _big_ oops. I'd suggest apologizing to him."

She nodded and stood up abruptly, towering far above me, dropped her noodle bowl and vaulted over the rooftop. Lucky for me I had (have) good reflexes and was able to catch her noodles before the were ruined.

* * *

"Interesting turn out this year. Hey check it out… aren't those the same kids we saw when we first got here?" Shima asked inclining her head towards the front of the room. From our vantage point in the back left corner (chosen so we could view the competition) we could see the three leaf nins from earlier. Shima shifted so that she was closer to me and bent down slightly. "He's even cuter up close." She whispered into my ear so that her now brooding husband-to-be couldn't hear her. 

"He does have the whole 'dark-anti-hero-but-still-a-good-guy' vibe to him." As I agreed my eyes flickered to Maru, whose attention wasn't in the same space as us. Adjusting my gaze to follow his I spied with my little eye three people who we'd also seen on our first day in Konohagakure; Maru's estranged cousins. The shorter, teal eyed, red head, tattooed version of Maru, the sandy haired girl with a big ass fan around her waist, and the guy in the black out fit with the hat that kind of tufted making him look like he had cat ears. "Hey Shima… check it out." I nodded towards the three sand nins and Shima's golden brown eyes went wide.

"Where are you going?" Maru asked snapping out of his glaring contest with the back of his cousins' head to bark at Shima.

"I'm gonna go say hi! It's important that I get to know your family." She said flashing him a smile and moving just out of his reach.

"Don't!" He hissed scrambling over two chairs and a rather lanky leaf nin to reach her. But it was all in vain as Shima slid into the crowd towards the sand nins. I watched this all with calculated amusement. I couldn't let Maru see that I found this frickin hilarious, but I couldn't let the humor go by without proper appraisal. Sadly it all ended as the exam proctors arrived in a rather showy fashion and brought the fun to a screeching halt.

My seat was on the left side near the front of the room between this guy with huge eyebrows and this sound nin girl with long black hair. Maru was way in the very back right corner and Shima was stuck in the second desk right next to the window.

As the main proctor guy began explaining the rules of the exam I found myself getting more and more confused so I decided to wake up Seikatsu.

_Hey... do you find this odd?_

_**Ne? What's odd?**_

_Well listen…_

I repeated the rules to her and waited.

_Well? Doesn't it seem odd to you?_

_**Shaddup. I'm thinking here. **_

I propped my elbows on the desk, interlaced my fingers and leaned my forehead against them so it would appear as if I were deep in thought. (Which wasn't entirely a false image to portray.) About twenty, maybe thirty minutes into the exam Seikatsu finally responded.

_**Well I'm done thinking about it.**_

_And…?_

_**I dunno.**_

I really wanted to scream out loud at that point… but that would've been… stupid. So I settled for screaming at my own personal demon crane.

_WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'I dunno'? I thought you were like old and wise and shit!_

_**Wisdom comes from experience, not age.**_

_... I really hate you right now._

I could feel the bird smirking.

_**I can still help you out kiddo.**_

_Oh?_

_**Yes. Let's have a little looksie at the questions.**_

Being ancient, highly intelligent and logical and such the questions (which could've been written in Spanish for all intent and purposes because I suck at decoding stuff) on the paper were the merest of equations to her. She began rattling on and on about the distance formula, mass, velocity, acceleration and basically rolled Physical Science, Geometry, Calculus, Chemistry, Algebra and something about A squared and B squared into one long ass speech until I forced her to stop by inducing pain upon myself .

_Can you sum all that up into like… a few sentences?_

Seikatsu made a noise of rage.

_**Just close your eyes, put a pencil to the paper and let me do it okay?**_

As requested, I relinquished control of my body to the bird demon.

Now normally when a demon vessel relinquishes control to their demon, said demon pops out and raises all kinds of Hell. Not me. I'm lucky. At about the age of eight or so I was ambushed by grass nins and chased all over a forest. I was chased into this cliff side and the entire area had been booby trapped with several more grass nins waiting and hiding. Somehow two of them managed to get behind me and a third one pushed me through a line of razor wire the other two had been holding (thus the severing) and my torso toppled over the cliff. Seikatsu saved me, if there hadn't been a river at the bottom of the cliff… well I got very lucky.

It takes up about half of the bird's chakra to keep everything below my bellybutton in a solidified state. But it's because of all the chakra she spends keeping me alive that we can be in control of my body in tandem. Though I'm proud to say that I can kick back into control at my leisure.

_**All done.**_

_What about the last question?_

_**Did you read the last question Ed? Did you?**_

…

_**Ugh… Don't worry about it… personally I'd be more concerned with Shima.**_

_You're right… we need to help her. Any Ideas?_

The bird was smirking and I allowed her to execute her little plan. I watched it all happening like a movie; she brought my thumb up and put it between my lips and spit on the pad of it. With the same calculated slowness she lowered my hand the rubbed the spit along the bottom of the table. I could feel her pushing the spit along the underside of the table, past the other people and then down the leg of the desk to the floor. The spit collected together into a bead where it weaved it's way across the floor avoided feet, loose clothing, desk and chair legs until it finally reached Shima's desk where it twisted it's way up until it attached itself to the underside of the desk. It continued moving until the little ball of spit was directly in front of Shima. Moving very slowly as to not freak her out it rolled up the front edge of the desk and onto her paper. Shima's eyes widened at first but then they returned to normal. I guess Shima understood what was going on because she dipped the tip of her pencil into the spit and allowed Seikatsu to guide her pencil across the paper.

In honesty I didn't know then and I still don't know now why the bird is so… so… involved with stuff like this. I mean you'd think she'd have better things to do with her time then helping a couple of kids out with their tests. But then again there is very little the bird demon can do without the aid of massive quantities of water or maybe she was just bored.

When the blonde kid started yelling about him not giving up and not being underestimated and stuff (I wasn't really listening) and could feel Seikatsu laughing (It was really contagious, but lucky for me I didn't explode laughing.) It was very shortly after that, that I could feel Seikatsu somewhere between banging her head on the walls of my mind and rolling around on the floor laughing.

**_Oh damn it! I just freakin got it…_** There was a pause as I heard the proctor start talking about something and then he informed everyone that they passed.

**_I fucking hate humans… Oh don't pout. That sneaky little bastard, I wasted perfectly good chakra getting the answers to your roost mate and it doesn't even matter! I swear to God next full moon that sonnuvabitch better be nowhere near a water source otherwise everything within a frickin mile of him is gonna be ripped out of the fucking ground!_**

Before she could start ranting about flooding Konohagakure for 'daring' to breed the man, some crazy bitch flew through the window. I was struck speechless, but Seikatsu was still in control and she was a lot more paranoid then me. Though she didn't leap to our feet, every muscle in my body was thoroughly tensed and I felt her reach out to every water container in the room and every water pipe within a twenty foot radius. But once it became obvious the building wasn't under attack she relaxed, a bit.

* * *

"So… we got five days in the forest. Do you two want to screw around or can we get this over with?" Maru asked as we waited in line to turn in our consent forms. He looked at me as we spoke so I knew he was talking about me and Seikatsu as opposed Shima and I. 

"Meh. I really don't care." Our very tall companion said arching her back like a cat and popping what sounded like every joint in her body. Seikatsu shrugged seeing as one, I was to lazy to take back control and two, if she spoke there was a good chance the grass genins in front of us would've crapped themselves. (Seikatsu's voice has that effect on people who aren't used to hearing a demon voice not mixed with the demon vessel's voice. Not her fault really just a side effect of being demon I guess.) We were the last team to receive our scrolls (Heaven scroll woot!) and Seikatsu being Seikatsu took the scroll and shoved it into my pants where it was immediately absorbed into the water of my thigh.

We chose a gate near the river, for obvious reasons, and made very little effort to hide our position. Maru and Shima stood by impassively as Seikatsu had my body submerged waist deep in the water with my head bowed forward and my eyes closed. Seikatsu was seeking; using the fact that my lower body is what it is to meld with the water and link it directly to my brain so that my eye sight basically became the river.

"**It runs right** **to the tower.** **All we have to do is find somebody with the earth scroll and take it then we're set.**" Seikatsu informed my 'roost mates' opening my eyes halfway. "**I get to kill them."** She informed the broody one and his tall counterpart. The broody one made an annoyed noise but nodded whereas the tall one simply grinned and nodded.

* * *

The first team we (Seikatsu and I) killed had been from grass and were, in fact, the ones who had been standing in front of us in the line up. Their deaths were gory but Seikatsu had the good grace to make them all very painless. Not quick, definitely not quick, but painless. They had a Heaven scroll. The second team we killed was from leaf, they also had a Heaven scroll. (Which we found on the first person we killed and _that_ had pissed Seikatsu off very much so that the other two died very slowly and very painfully.) The third team, the leaf genins, they had the Earth scroll but by then Seikatsu was in so much of a whirl from the blood that it didn't matter. Everything had been a blur of greens, browns, blues, and reds. By the time I fully came back to my senses and in control of my body I was sitting slumped forward drenched in blood and meaty gristle that had one been a heart? A lung maybe? Seikatsu was satisfied and retreated into my subconscious for a nap, I was exhausted and ready to vomit, Shima was kind enough to assist me with bathing while Maru scouted the area. 

"Do you enjoy it when Seikatsu does that?" Shima asked picking through my hair like a baboon and removing shreds of the leaf nins innards from my hair. I shivered and shook my head. It was a complete lie. The shiver was from excitement, adrenaline and ecstasy were coursing through my body, I always got a rise out of Seikatsu's killings. Which in itself is strange because I positively abhor killing people. I only shook my head because… because I didn't want her to think of _me_ as a monster. It was fine if she hated the crane but… I didn't want her to hate me. Selfish eh? We were silent as she helped me wash the grime from my body.

I know that on some level Shima and Maru fear Seikatsu and fear me for harboring Seikatsu. But they know that she would never hurt them. But they're smart; they know not to push their luck with it.

The rest of the trip was silent. They fought these grotesquely large bugs because… well partly because they wanted to and partly because I was just to damned tired from Seikatsu's reign over my body to do a damn thing. Sadly I collapsed before we reached the tower, now it wouldn't have been that bad but Shima caught me, overbalanced, and her leg bone was, more or less, shattered from the impact with which we hit the ground. I suppose it's our own fault for enjoying the way the world kind of blurs beneath you when your traveling as fast as you can in the tree tops. Alas Seikatsu was still too weak to completely heal Shima, thus I was to weak to heal Shima and Maru doesn't even know how to properly apply a band aid so… we were disqualified and called back to Kirigakure."

* * *

I blinked once, twice, thrice, and a fourth time still unsure as to what I was seeing. Then the two brilliant green orbs blinked and I realized (vaguely) that my head was on Gaara's lap in a fashion similar to how I'd let him rest his head on my lap not so long ago. I blinked again. The sky above was still dark but growing lighter around the edges, very close to dawn. 

"You talk in your sleep. A lot."

"What'd I talk about?"

"Same thing I did… failed chuunin exam."

I blinked several more times and sat up.

"Uwah… God damn it… my head…" I complained, mostly to the bird, and cradled my head that was currently dealing with a rabid migraine. "Sorry…" I mutter shifting around so that I could see him while still cradling my pounding forehead.

"Why didn't you tell me about your demon?"

"I did."

"I mean sooner." Mild annoyance was slowly filtering into his tone.

"You never asked."

"It's not something you run around asking every person you meet. That's something you should tell people." Full blown annoyance had now integrated into his tone.

"Well now you know… shouldn't we get back to Suna?" I placed one hand on the ground and pushed my butt up into the air. One hand still clung to my head the other was buried in the sand to prevent myself from falling into the sky. Having clarified that I would not leave the Earths gravity field I pushed up with my hands and managed to stand completely vertical. I exhaled with a 'woo' sound and finally managed to stop my arms from pin wheeling. "Let's go what are you waiting for?" I asked bracing my legs to start running and shooting him a rather flippant grin. He looked at me like I owed him money or something, shook his head, and got to his feet with two thirds less theatrics then I did. The first few minutes were silent but something was gnawing at my mind like an angry beaver and I broke the solitude.

"Gaara-kun… I have a question about last night." Had it really only been last night? He nodded slowly and I inhaled before continuing so that my words would come out with my exhale. Which they did. "When you were back in control of Shukaku, right before that messenger guy knocked, would you really have…?" My exhalation ended and I cursed the blush I felt slinking across my cheeks. His eyes went wide, obviously he thought I was going to ask about our little fight. Gaara opened his mouth, closed it, and looked away with the tiniest blush on his cheeks.

_**Awwwwh… He's all shy! Hug him! Do it now!**_

_Will you shut up? God damn it I hate it when you drink all that blood and get tipsy._

She giggled.

_**He's looooking at you…**_

Naturally I looked at him and he looked away with the slight blush still on his cheeks. I smiled and had to fight down the very strong urge from Seikatsu to pounce on him and cover him in kisses and hugs.

_Must not pounce must not pounce must not po-_

_**Do it! Pounce on him and squeeze and hug him! Tickle him too… I bet he's ticklish. You should tickle his di-**_

_ENOUGH OUT OF YOU!_

Though the crane was silent she sent me an image of me pantsing Gaara and 'tickling' his special parts which made me blush and grin. The rest of the trip back was filled with shy glances between Gaara and me, slight blushes when we caught each other looking, and Seikatsu running a porn show of things I should do to Gaara through my head. (I was smiling against my will mind you.) We bolted over the sun baked rooftops of Sunagakure (then again _everything_ in Hidden Sand is sun baked…) and didn't stop until we landed at the gates outside of the Kazekage's official business and living center.

_**Woohoo! We won! **_

_Huh? Won what? _

_**The race. **_

_Uhm… We weren't racing…_

**_We got to the gates before he did. We won._** **_Let's celebrate with a healthy round of horizontal tango with the loser._**

With those words she sent images of me riding Gaara like a rodeo horse which made me blush and smirk. The smirk was short lived as a very familiar ninja greeted Gaara and I just inside the building.

"Shima-chan… what are you doing here?"

* * *

Hey! This one took awhile to crank out eh? Well not as long as the other one but… eh. I've read some good stories, been attempting to hook up video game systems to my T.V. My brother moved out taking the Xbox, Gamecube, DS, PS2, and MY gameboy with him, leaving me with the N64 (Oldie), Sega Genesis (Classice), Super Nintendo (Old School baby) and NES ( Mega Old School, for those of you who don't know or remember; it is a twenty year old game system that STILL works. Which is kinda funny because my friends PS2 died on him after like… two years I think.) But anyway his leaving meant that he took a majority of the cables with him and the T.V remote. (I lost mine a few years back and his works for mine to so yeah…) So that's my excuse for this thing taking as long as it did. That and I recently acquired a life! Yes! My friend has been taking me to parties and such recently which is really funny but I won't bore you with the details… 

To more important things…

As you may (or may not) have noticed Seikatsu's personality is like a friggin rollercoaster. At one point I decided she'd be motherly but these two parts of my brain got into a fist fight over it and something got slaughtered so Seikatsu's just going to be all over the place. But I'll be nice and give valid (cough) Reasons for the changes and such but a few things will not change.

She will always be motherly (to a point)

She will always be mild to spicy on the horniness chart.

She's a demon so there **_is_** bloodlust and losing her mind during said bloodlust.

And finally… she's centuries upon centuries old and has spent the past hundred years trapped inside of demon vessels (I'll touch on that in more detail later.) which I'd think tends to grate against ones sanity at some point

So those I my explanation/excuses for Seikatsu going from : (Blah and motherly) to ) (Evil blood letting bitchoid) to (.)/ (Bouncy bouncy!).

Finally…

WHAT do I have to do to get some fargon reviews? Dress in drag and do the hula?

Review Got Damn it!


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